Blog 8!

One of the biggest controversies today is networks keeping up with the technologies of television. The new era of the television has made it more and more difficult for advertisers to get their point across. One example of this, is when t.v shows (especially live or reality ones) are having a very dramatic moment. They will advertise right in the middle in order to keep the audience watching and waiting for the results of the moments. Mostly competition shows do this (Biggest Loser, American Idol, Americas Next Top Model). This keeps viewers glued to the screen waiting, and allows commercials to sell to their viewers. For viewers there are a lot of different options now to not watch the dreaded commercials, they can go online and watch the show whenever they want, avoiding missing their show because they were busy, they can also tape the show through a dvr and fastforward through the commercials. Advertisements must find more affective ways of making advertisements more prevelent, on the show Fringe on Fox, they tell the viewer how long the comercial is going to be, often making the people feel like its a shorter time period and making them more willing to stay in front of the screen. I think this is the best way to keep people on the channel, especially in today's world, where there are so many options of not watching tv.

Blog 7: Open

American Idol is one of the most popular television shows today, and the most popular reality show. Watching it for the past four seasons diligently, I have become a huge fan of the show. By studying the show, I have observed a lot of what we have discussed in the class. First, it is a primetime show. It starts on at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week, this is a large reason why so many people watch the show. It also does blunting, on ABC Dancing with the Stars competes with American Idol on Tuesday nights, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars are both reality shows relating to music, and have the same target audience. By being on at the same time American Idol sucks in a lot of Dancing with the Stars viewers. American Idol also does a "bridge" They often find reasons to make the show two hours or an hour and a half, by having performers on or having "special" nights in order to raise money or with special themes. This makes the audience not change the channel in the middle of the show. CBS does counter-programming against American Idol, by putting NCIS on at the same time as American Idol, they know they cannot compete with American Idol and its target market, so by putting NCIS on their target market is completely different, along with the interests of the people who watch NCIS.

American Idol also has a lot of "false drama" this season it has been quite obvious from the beginning who the AI producers want in the finale. Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey have been in the last 3 singers each week. American Idol thinks that everyone just wants to see these two perfom, and by putting them last, they create a climax and make everyone wait and watch the rest of the contestants, and creating drama within the last 15 minutes of the show. American Idol is an awesome show that I watch each week, and I think it is because they do all of the things I have listed, and it is being proven to work.

Product Placement

Product placement is possible one of the most effective selling points when used directly in movies and television shows. In American Idol Paula, Randy and Simon drink out of giant red cups that say COKE in large letters, when they are physically drinking from the coke cup it can only be assumed that they are drinking coke and that they support the product they are using. This is a direct usage of the product which I personally think is the more effective than if the product is in the backround or apart of the setting, in The Challenge 2 on MTV, mountain due obviously sponsors the show, however it is not that noticeable if you dont want to watch the show each week like I do. Product placement can sometimes be difficult to spot during TV shows if it isnt overdone, and therefore it could potentially be useless. In the Challenge 2, all of the contestants wear underarmour products, this does make me want to purchase some of those products, but mostly because the people on the show are very good looking and fit, and underarmour makes them look good, this is very effective as well, especially of the clothes look good on the people, the consumers are going to want them, so they can look better as well.

I believe that ads on TV have a much higher effect on people than any other type of ad. For TV to be able to use both audio and visual techniques is a huge advantage in the industry. The consumer can visualize the product perfectly on the television screen, people can make the product look much better than it would in real life, and along with that consumers are able to hear how "great" the product is, especially because these two are simultaneous, it is even a larger juggarnaut in the media. Ads on billiboards are seen for only a one second glance, an extremely short time as a driver passes by, plus billboards are generally not a motion picture which even has less of an affect on the consumer. However they use classical conditioning with the actual words on the billboard, the logos often can get peoples attention and make people think of the product and therefore maybe buy it. However I dont think that they are very affective not only because of the short amount of one sees the board but because how limiting a billboard can be with the lack of information that is projected through it, because of this an augmented products can be used, so people can quickly write down the website or number, on the road no one has time to read all of the information about a certain product, so making things easier on the consumers, they can have a website or phone number to learn more. I also believe that radio ads are not as effective as television ads because there is a lack of a visual, which is extremely important, especially for younger audiences, not being able to see the product is a huge disadvantage because a consumer really doesnt know what they are getting unless they see it. Many radio stations have advertisements with jingles, or with classical conditioning so people can remember the product, a slogan with a catchy phrase can often work as well, anything to catch ones attention. The Target market can be extremely significant in considering which radio station to put your product on, one wouldnt put an advertisement for a dance club on an oldies station, because the target market is young, hip people rather than people born in the '60s. Generally radio stations have extremely narrow target markets unless they play a large variety of different songs. Generally the public sees billboards and listens to radio stations every day however it seems that we often ignore these advertisements more than the television commercials, often when we are in the car we are busy worrying about things and not focused about what is around us.

Blog 4, Option 1

The media images and stereotypes of men and women impact how we view eachother professionally in many different ways. I believe the false images and stereotypes in the media are usually directed towards women. There are many ideas that women are stupid and too emotional to be able to do an important job. I once heard a girl student say, "I would never want a woman to be the President of a America, because during our time of the month we are too emotional to do anything, and could potentially make a seriously wrong decision." What type of message is this sending to people? Especially men, if a woman thinks this, a man is more likely to agree. Its pathetic that in so many magazines and television shows women are awarded for being the most beautiful or for having the best body. Women are generally not awarded for being the most inteligent or finding a world-changing discovery. Professionally, this leads to women not being paid the same as their male coworkers in jobs, and eventually leading to discrimination. At school, girls are always stereotyped to not be good at math and science, when this happens, girls can often become discouraged and give up completely, and keep this stereotypical "tradition" going. Men are often stereotyped to be tough and strict in the work force, and generally not being nurturing, this discourages men to be more intuned with their emotions and closing the idea of men doing jobs that include young kids or anything that involves being sensitive. By stopping stereotypes, we will allow ourselves to open up many opportunities for jobs and find out more about ourselves than we really knew.

American Idol!

My favorite show on the television is American Idol. There are a few American Values represented in various ways throughout the show. Achievement and Success is represented in this show by all of the people striving to achieve to be famous and be the best singer in America, by winning American Idol, they are achieving their dreams of being able to share their music and make a lot of money to support themselves. Activity and work are also present, each week the contestants work hard to memorize and perform a song in front of America, it can be very strenuous and keeps everyone busy. One of the most prominent American core values is progress, the point of the show is moving forward in the music community, and making strides in finding new and different people to become famous. No one wants old-fashioned singers or an out-dated song, it's all about finding someone unique and someone that can provide a new audience of people. Individualism is also displayed often in American Idol, the show is all about celebrating peoples different and unique styles of singing and personal independence, if you are conforming on American Idol and not trying to stand out, you will fail miserably and not be successful. Youthfulness is also a very significant factor in American Core Values, first of all, you must under a certain age to even be able to try out for the show, and secondly American Idol is looking for young people, with a new sense of style that is different and not been done before.

American Idol sends messages to its viewers that they should value Achievement and Success because the point of the show is competition, a contestant on the show wants to acheive success by winning, and eliminating others by singing the best. Also, the show portrays the idea that Activity and Work are a necessity in the competition part of American Idol as well, without it, there would be no show, because no one would be able to produce good songs. This program shows viewers that they should valve mostly individualism and youthfulness however, because on this show its all about standing out, and proving that you are not only different than everyone else but better, and more interesting. In the end American Idol is about producing an idol that people can look up to and that can be a role model, and can become famous.

Movie Clip

The clip from the movie made me realize just how awful the media can affect kids today. I think its pretty awful that kids have to be exposed to such terrible things, but I also think its important that young kids are not sheltered from it, media is part of everyone's life and sheltering kids from it would just make it worse in their later years. However what is being portrayed through the media is not all right. Kids are getting bad images about whats important in life, and they are being taught to consume everything and anything. Media has a hugely different effect on girls and boys. Girls are definitely influenced by the media more than boys. Girls often set such a high standard for what they have to look like and act like, its ridiculous. The media portrays the "perfect woman" as skinny and glamorous, which is completely not the case because the "perfect woman" is not one set standard, its not black and white. And often I think the media sets out in making a lot of things black and white. This is not only ridiculous but also pathetic, girls are almost programmed to buy things that they think will make them prettier and better. Boys are influenced differently throughout the media. Boys often think its important to be muscular and athletic. A lot of the time the media reflects that boys should try and get a lot of girls, to be a "ladies man" which is not only unrealistic but disrespectful to women. Overall I think the media is never going to be stopped, however I think the explicit content in the media should be toned down and should become more helpful and realistic for kids.